Jane stitched this pin on silk gauze for her friend Mimi Maddox. The brooch is only one and a half inches across (approx 3cm) while the actual stitched area is 3/4 of an inch (approx 1.5cm).
The starfish is stitched in Sulky, a machine embroidery thread. The French knots on top of the star fish were stitched with stripped Kreinik blending filament (colour #032, pearl, which is essentially colourless with pink & green highlights) and Kreinik gold braid. The picture does not convey the iridescence they add to the piece.
The Vain Mermaid is holding a mirror the better to admire herself. The mirror was stitched with Prisms to convey a glassy effect. There also is one blue stitch and one lipstick red stitch inside the mirror intended to convey the effect of one eye and her mouth. A friend pointed out she doesn't have a lot to be vain about as her tail is quite chunky! She is almost 2 inches (approx 5 cm) across from one side of the brooch to the other. This one is on 48 count Silk Gauze and is stitched mostly with Sampler Thread manufactured by Gentle Arts, cotton floss that is hand dyed and overdyed. Generally each skein has two colors that gradually shade into each other. It was intended to convey the gently aged effects on reproduction samplers but it works quite nicely on Silk Gauze. The scan does not show the sparkly blue fabric underneath the silk gauze. It is pale blue with navy blue streaks and does look quite a bit like water in real life.
This is Busy Bee Mends a Broken Heart, another of Jane's designs for silk gauze. This is stitched on 40 count using Empress Overdyed silk for the red heart and Kreinik metallic gold #4 cord. Black and yellow Gentle Art Sampler Threads have been used for the bees. Their wings are done in Prisms inside. This design was a present for Jane's sister in law.
Jane Wood from Chilly Hollow in Virginia is a fellow member of the ANG (American Needlepoint Guild) mailing list.
All designs and photographs copyright Jane Wood.